English

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English Major

The English Department provides you with a depth and breadth of literary knowledge while teaching you to explore problems creatively, to be sensitive to life's diversity, and to read the world critically and thoughtfully.

To declare a major in English, please select a faculty member (not visiting) and request that the professor serve as your adviser. Pick up the appropriate form from the Registrar's Office and take it to the department chair for approval.

If the adviser you selected cannot take any more advisees, then you will decide on a second choice with the chair. Your choice of adviser is extremely important as he/she will help you design a major program and provide advice, and/or recommendations for jobs and graduate school.

English Major Requirements

The English major consists of ten courses, as follows:

ENG 220: Literary Analysis, the gateway course to the major, by the end of the sophomore year

One course in each of the following three categories: Diversity, Historical Approaches, and Innovation

Five elective courses (two of which may be taken outside the department, either in residence or abroad, pending approval of the syllabi and completed work by a department subcommittee)

A capstone experience in the senior year

Categories 2 and 3 will include two courses at the 200 level and two courses at the 300 level. Students must also have two courses at the 400 level, one of which fulfills category 4. No more than one English course at the 100-level will count for credit toward the major.

Progression and Sequencing: The successful English major follows an effective sequencing of courses. To that end, all majors will take:

Two 200-level courses by the end of sophomore year, one of which is ENG 220

At least one 300-level course by the end of the junior year

Two 400-level courses in the junior and/or senior year

Any exceptions to the above sequencing must be approved by the English department chair.

All English majors will maintain a Davidson Domains site to which they will upload one (or more) of their essays from the gateway course (ENG 220), along with other writing samples from 200- and 300-level courses.

To determine whether you should pursue the old or revised major, log into Degreeworks and play the "what if" game:

Pick English as your major (you do not have to be a declared English major)

Have the "Process What-if" routine run, and you will know what requirements you have met, what still remains to be done, and what courses offered this semester would satisfy your remaining requirements

Additional information about the English major is available in the College Catalog.

Literary Analysis

English 220 lays the foundation for the three introductory historical survey courses (240, 260, 280) and for upper-level literature courses. Prospective English majors are encouraged to take English 220 as early as possible. The purpose of English 220 is to address many of the essential questions that confront a student of literature.

What do we do when we study "English?"

How do we determine that a text is "literature" and how does that determination affect our reading of it?

How do we account for the author's intentions in our response to the text?

What is required in the formal analysis of language, structure, sound, and rhythm in literature?

What do history, politics, and gender have to do with the discovery of meaning in a literary text?

What is the range of possibility in the reading and interpretation of literary texts?

What is the value of studying literature at all?

English 220 explores these and other critical issues through well-informed discussion and writing on selected texts of poetry, fiction, and drama by major authors in world literature.

Summer Cambridge Program

Limited to 30 students, the Davidson Summer Program at Cambridge focuses on the history and literature of late 18th- and 19th-century Britain.